I totally agree about markups.....

I often undertake work on fixed bid basis. When materials are required I always include their cost in the bid price of the project. Tools, components, PC boards, outside services, .. everything gets thrown in with healthy margins. My point about 1::1 was to make sure to account for every single item and make sure every item gets covered in the payments....either in the base price or the extended parts+markup rembursement claim.

Sometimes a client has a legitimate need to see the cost of goods invoiced separately from the cost of services. For these reasons there is a need to remain flexible on project pricing methods and terms.

Michael Karas